I have learned SO much so far since I have been reading this site and forums, however i also now realize how much I DON'T know yet. whew!!!
So, i have now put myself into somewhat of a conundrum....
I was originally looking to build an all-in-one ESXI box running a coule VM workstations, SBS2011, Home Server 2011, and perhaps another NAS software VM.
To accomplish this, I purchased the following:
Supermicro X9SCM-f-o (online)
Intel E3-1230 (retail)
Seasonic X660w (retail)
M1015 (ebay)
SAS 8087 to 4 SATA cord (ebay)
16GB DDR3 ECC Ram (still not sure where i was going to get it, bought some retail to test motherboard compatibility)
I was planning on using some drives I already have (4x1.5TB, 4x3TB, 2x750GB) for storage.
I was all excited, thought I had everything ready to put into my existing 4U case. I was on craigslist Sunday night just 'lookin' and a 1u server had just been posted for $1000. The price was VERY intriguing (plus it said it had 2x8GB DDR3 ECC ram), so I bought it. (unfortunately, it had 4x4GB ram instead, but I only paid $950) The server had the following specs:
Intel R1304BTLSHBN 1U server chassis w/ps (find it here)
Intel S1200BTL skt1155 C204 ATX motherboard (included in server system above here) - or ebay search for pictures
Intel E3-1245 processor
4x4GB Kingston DDR3 ECC CL9 memory
Intel RAID Controller RT3WB080 (LSI2108 chip)
4x1TB drives (2xbaracudas and 2xcaviar blacks)
He also included a sealed Windows Server 2008R2 w/ 5 CALS (media and COA - which is worth quite a bit right there, right?!)
The server had not yet been put into production. They decided against the NAS role this was to fulfill and go with an offsite cloud solution instead.
I am not a huge fan of 1Us because of their noise, but this thing is quiet - I am VERY impressed how quiet at idle.
I originally bought it for the ram only, thought i could sell the rest as a barebones. But I have since returned the E3-1230 and ECC Ram to the retail store I bought them from locally here. I can use the E3-1245 and ram from the Intel 1U for which direction I choose. That is what leads me to my dilema:
What do you think would be a better setup?
keep the 1u as it is, and use it as an ESXI box and set up a separate iSCSI box to connect to,
or stay with my original idea of an all-in-one and then sell off what parts are left over...... (maybe here???
)
If I decide to go with the all-in-one box, will I see a HUGE advantage to using the intel RAID card over the M1015?? My original plan was to have a RAID 10 for VM storage and critical data (family pictures and videos, etc) and then probably pass thru the remaining drives to VMs for either NAS and/or Home Server 2011 for media serving and network PC backups. Either can do this, just not sure whether or not the Intel card is overkill for this use, and would be better valued to me to sell here or ebay.
WHEW!!! - I know, that was a lot, I'm just trying to figure out what will work best. Wife Acceptance Factor (WAF) is paramount so that means uptime is vital so that she doesn't have to worry about where her files are, and what 'work-arounds' she has to do this time while I'm playing with things on the network. For this reason (and the networked tuner), I have taken my untangle server and moved it from a VM to actual before my ESXI box to make sure that if anything happens, she still has internet and TV.........
I have been using ESXI 4 for about 2 years or more, but i don't have a lot of knowledge (yet) of iSCSI. If it is hard to understand and set up, that will sway me to be sure.
If anyone has any insite, I'm all ears, and whatever else I need to get a setup that will work best. I don't know anything about OI or Napp-it, other than many ppl here like to use it, so I may want to look at that as well.
Thanks in advance - You've already been a great help when i thought my Supermicro board was DOA. I appreciate the community.
Ryan
So, i have now put myself into somewhat of a conundrum....
I was originally looking to build an all-in-one ESXI box running a coule VM workstations, SBS2011, Home Server 2011, and perhaps another NAS software VM.
To accomplish this, I purchased the following:
Supermicro X9SCM-f-o (online)
Intel E3-1230 (retail)
Seasonic X660w (retail)
M1015 (ebay)
SAS 8087 to 4 SATA cord (ebay)
16GB DDR3 ECC Ram (still not sure where i was going to get it, bought some retail to test motherboard compatibility)
I was planning on using some drives I already have (4x1.5TB, 4x3TB, 2x750GB) for storage.
I was all excited, thought I had everything ready to put into my existing 4U case. I was on craigslist Sunday night just 'lookin' and a 1u server had just been posted for $1000. The price was VERY intriguing (plus it said it had 2x8GB DDR3 ECC ram), so I bought it. (unfortunately, it had 4x4GB ram instead, but I only paid $950) The server had the following specs:
Intel R1304BTLSHBN 1U server chassis w/ps (find it here)
Intel S1200BTL skt1155 C204 ATX motherboard (included in server system above here) - or ebay search for pictures
Intel E3-1245 processor
4x4GB Kingston DDR3 ECC CL9 memory
Intel RAID Controller RT3WB080 (LSI2108 chip)
4x1TB drives (2xbaracudas and 2xcaviar blacks)
He also included a sealed Windows Server 2008R2 w/ 5 CALS (media and COA - which is worth quite a bit right there, right?!)
The server had not yet been put into production. They decided against the NAS role this was to fulfill and go with an offsite cloud solution instead.
I am not a huge fan of 1Us because of their noise, but this thing is quiet - I am VERY impressed how quiet at idle.
I originally bought it for the ram only, thought i could sell the rest as a barebones. But I have since returned the E3-1230 and ECC Ram to the retail store I bought them from locally here. I can use the E3-1245 and ram from the Intel 1U for which direction I choose. That is what leads me to my dilema:
What do you think would be a better setup?
keep the 1u as it is, and use it as an ESXI box and set up a separate iSCSI box to connect to,
or stay with my original idea of an all-in-one and then sell off what parts are left over...... (maybe here???
)If I decide to go with the all-in-one box, will I see a HUGE advantage to using the intel RAID card over the M1015?? My original plan was to have a RAID 10 for VM storage and critical data (family pictures and videos, etc) and then probably pass thru the remaining drives to VMs for either NAS and/or Home Server 2011 for media serving and network PC backups. Either can do this, just not sure whether or not the Intel card is overkill for this use, and would be better valued to me to sell here or ebay.
WHEW!!! - I know, that was a lot, I'm just trying to figure out what will work best. Wife Acceptance Factor (WAF) is paramount so that means uptime is vital so that she doesn't have to worry about where her files are, and what 'work-arounds' she has to do this time while I'm playing with things on the network. For this reason (and the networked tuner), I have taken my untangle server and moved it from a VM to actual before my ESXI box to make sure that if anything happens, she still has internet and TV.........
I have been using ESXI 4 for about 2 years or more, but i don't have a lot of knowledge (yet) of iSCSI. If it is hard to understand and set up, that will sway me to be sure.
If anyone has any insite, I'm all ears, and whatever else I need to get a setup that will work best. I don't know anything about OI or Napp-it, other than many ppl here like to use it, so I may want to look at that as well.
Thanks in advance - You've already been a great help when i thought my Supermicro board was DOA. I appreciate the community.
Ryan
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